Holiday time brings family, fun, food and some holiday hazards if you aren’t careful. A few tips to protect your baby from common holiday hazards.

Those pretty trees with all their lights and shiny ornaments are eye catches for baby. She will want to pull up on the tree, grab the ornaments or lights which an lead to a toppled tree, burnt little hands (yes, those holiday lights get hot) or a fistful of ornament shrapnel. Be sure to supervise baby with extra care when she is around the tree.

Who doesn’t love the beauty of candles and Menorahs? Be sure to set them up high even when they are not lit, because the wax can contain toxins that can be swallowed. Also remember to keep candy dishes and miniature nativity sets out of baby’s reach.

All those bows and ribbons make gifts extra beautiful, but they can pose strangulation or choking hazards. Be sure to have a garbage bag nearby so you can throw away wrapping paper, bows and ribbons as soon as presents are opened.

Make sure that your child can’t get to your tree plug/outlet. My son loves the Christmas tree lights and last year he was only 18 monhts old and always trying to plug the lights in. That’s very dangerous so this year we positioned it to where he can’t get it.
Also, make sure not to have small ornaments on the bottom of the tree…I have found that dogs are also very curious over the tree and they can swallow small ornaments.

great tips! my daughter is the only reason i’m not terrible upset that we’re not doing a big tree this year. we just decorated our little potted plant with bows. but next year we’ll have more room for a tree so i’ll have to keep these tips in mind!

We have concentrated time for our little boy to sit with us and enjoy looking at the tree and all the presents under it so he can enjoy it and be curious with our supervision. After a while he loses interest and doesn’t try to go explore by it later.

I saw a picture posted by a mom on Facebook last week – her baby had swallowed a metal ornament hook (she is okay, but had to have it removed). Scary! We have plastic ornament hooks but just using ribbon would probably be best.